THE MUSICAL DISRUPTOR
Punk’s main legacy was its DIY attitude – the idea that anyone can stick two fingers up at the mainstream and control their own image. Kokoko! – based in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surely the best band with an exclamation mark since Wham! – takes that idea a little further.
They make their instruments from kitchen pans, planks of wood, old typewriters and other bits of junk, stringing them together with hypnotic synth stabs to create jump-up, thrillingly 21st-century dance music, MC-ed with guttural call-and-response vocals and recorded in a studio made of old ping-pong tables. Dressed in Minion-yellow jumpsuits, the group, whose name translates as ‘knock knock knock’, has opened doors at SXSW and Berlin’s Berghain, and was all set to play Glastonbury this summer.
Even post-lockdown, Kinshasa won’t be on anyone’s travel itinerary – unlike nearby Brazzaville it’s just a little too edgy – but it’s bubbling over with ideas, as recent documentary film System K revealed, showcasing Mad Max-style characters such as the Kongo Astronaut, a performance artist who wanders the streets in a home-made spacesuit.
‘The creative scene is quite out there and has real guts,’ says band member Débruit. ‘We all hang out and go to everyone else’s happenings, whether improvised body performance or protest art – and they all come to our block parties. Our sound changes every day: we keep inventing instruments and get inspiration from the noise of the city. There’s music everywhere, from roadside hawkers and megaphones advertising mobile-phone credit to the crazy churches. Like Kinshasa, we’re loud and unpredictable.’ It’s street music in the most inventive sense. By Rick Jordan
Kokoko!’s album Fongola is out now (transgressiverecords.com)
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